Monday, December 24: Ephesians 4- making every effort.

I appreciate those passages that give me a handle on how I am to live as a follower of Jesus Christ. This chapter has a number of handles, manageable chunks that give me an answer as to what should I do/how I should live now that I name Jesus to be Lord of my life.

My eyes and heart focused on the first ‘handle’ in the chapter. Verses 1-3: I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. How should I live? I should live worthy of my calling as a child of God, an heir with Jesus in my Heavenly Father’s family. And I live worthily by:

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Being humble and gentle… seeking the good, lifting up and encouraging others before myself and doing what I do with a kind, gentle spirit.

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Being patient bearing with one another in love… giving people space to grow as God would have it, not losing my temper when things don’t go as I plan or want. Making love my aim… remember 1Cor 13:4-8!

<![if !supportLists]>·         <![endif]>Making every effort to keep unity.  It is so easy to slip into looking out for #1 or dividing the body into groups –the ‘spiritual’ and ‘less spiritual’, the ‘righteous’ and the ‘not-so-righteous’, the ‘in and the out crowd’, the ‘important’ and ‘not-so-important’. ‘None of this’, says the Lord.

Well’ God has certainly given me a handle on how to live for Him today and every day.

Now comes the question.  Will I do it? How about you?

Oh, God, I am incapable of living this way apart from You and the presence of Jesus through the Spirit in my life. Help. Help me. Help me to live a life worth of the calling I have as Your son. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.